5 Things to Know About Your Garage Door

With all of the modern conveniences present in today’s society, it is easy to view progress as a blessing and a curse. While having an automated garage door can be awesome, it can be a painfully complicated process to fix when it breaks down. Home maintenance is one of the most costly expenditures for any homeowner. Included here are a few things to know about that garage door before calling in the pros.

Pros of Electronic or Automated Garage Doors

Having a garage door that opens at the push of a button is an undeniable convenience. You can simply pull into your driveway and directly into the garage while avoiding the neighbors altogether! Not to mention, you can avoid getting in and out of your car in cold or snowy weather. This also means you can open the garage door for kids to get their bikes out without having to head outside and manually lift it.

Cons of Electronic or Automated Garage Doors

One of the problems with techy devices is that they have a tendency to break. Sometimes the fix can be simple, like batteries in your garage remote, or it can be complicated, like having your photo cell wiring go out. Understanding your garage door and remote can help you fix these problems quickly and without too much hassle.

Pros of Manual Garage Doors

Manual garage doors are beneficial because they are easy to manage. You do not have to hook up wiring or electrical in the garage to run the garage door. You can simply step out of your car and lift the garage door and close it when necessary. When something breaks it is usually fairly simple to fix as a homeowner.

Cons of Manual Garage Doors

Manual garage doors require more work on a daily basis but are often cheaper to fix. Garage doors have high tension springs necessary for putting the garage door down; unfortunately, if those springs break or lose tension, your garage door can be stuck in the lifted position.

Problems for the Professionals

Both manual and automatic garage doors are going to have problems that are outside your realm of knowledge. For example, if your cable breaks or the pulley becomes jammed you should refer this case to a professional, as this is a more difficult fix.

Another problem with garage doors can be failed alignment. Because garage doors are opened and closed so often on a daily basis, it is common for the rollers to come off the track and become unaligned. If you are unfamiliar with this process it is best to call in a professional to avoid making it worse on your own.